The Next Track

Doug and Kirk discuss some news and some music and audio technology history, then examine the best ways to manage and store a digital media collection. Show notes: News: Rudy Van Gelder, Renowned ‘A Love Supreme’ Engineer, Dead at 91 – Rolling Stone Music Technology of the 1970s: A Timeline – Pitchfork Managing and Storing Digital Media Files: TuneSpan Drobo WD My Cloud 4 TB Synology Our next tracks: Kirk: Harold Budd: Children on the Hill Doug: Bis: Social Dancing If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

Doug and Kirk welcome Sangwook “Sunny” Nam, two-time Grammy nominated mastering engineer. He explains what mastering and remastering are, and we learn a lot about the magic that mastering engineers perform. “All the processing I’m doing is done on the analog side.” Show notes: Jacob’s Well Mastering Sunny Nam’s recordings on Discogs Doug Sax The Doors on vinyl Sunny Nam’s mastering studio. Our next tracks: Kirk: Blind Gary Davis: Harlem Street Singer Doug: Frank Zappa & The Mothers: Roxy & Elsewhere If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Special Guest: Sunny Nam.Support The Next Track

Doug and Kirk take a look at recent news in the music and audio world. From audiophile utility poles to iTunes news, from record stores to car radios, this news and views episode keeps you up to date on what matters in music listening. And Kirk gives an update on his first Pearl Jam listening experience. “For $10,000 there better be a powerful placebo effect.” Show notes: News: Pearl Jam: Ten A Gift for Music Lovers Who Have It All: A Personal Utility Pole Records’ rebirth fueled by older music obsessives, not young hipsters Ch-Ch-Changes in the Physical Music Retail Landscape A Couple of Work and Movement Scripts iTunes Gets a Splash of Color iTunes 12.5 and iOS 10 Music App to Add Lyrics to Song Playback Ultravox: The Island Years Wim Martens: a man of no fortune and with a name to come Talking Heads: Fear of Music Hugo Ball Honda Civic 2016: A case study of the disappearing radio Our next tracks: Doug: ZZ Top: Rhythmeen Kirk: Grateful Dead: Dave’s Picks Volume 19: Honolulu Civic Auditorium, HI, 1/23/70 If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

Doug and Kirk welcome back Chris Connaker to discuss music streaming services. Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, or another; which is right for you? What are the pros and cons of the various streaming services? “I have never heard a song by Pearl Jam.” Show notes: News: Apple Is Finally Making iTunes Better for Classical Music Dislike is a New iTunes 12.5 Track Property Streaming music services: Pearl Jam Qobuz Apple Music Spotify Tidal Pandora Roon Pearl Jam: Ten Our next tracks: Kirk: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Organisation Doug: Daryl Hall: Sacred Songs If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Special Guest: Chris Connaker.Support The Next Track

Doug and Kirk discuss iTunes and AppleScript. This was bound to come sooner or later, since Doug is the AppleScript ninja. We look at what AppleScript does, and discuss more than a dozen of the most useful AppleScripts to use to manage your iTunes library. “AppleScript does not run on Windows, and Windows does not run in my house.” Show notes: News: New Pink Floyd box set covers the early years: 1965 – 1972 Pink Floyd copyright release: 1965: Their First Recordings Everything you need to know about playing music with AirPlay Classical Music Needs More Silence Listen Different: Add Silence to your iTunes and iPod Playlists High-Resolution Silence iTunes & AppleScript: Doug’s AppleScripts for iTunes Artist – Name Corrector Remove n Characters from Front or Back This Tag, That Tag Search Replace Tag Text Proper English Title Capitalization List MIAs Super Remove Dead Tracks Music Folder Files Not Added Move Playlists to Folder Playlist Manager Find Album Artwork With Google Save Album Art as folder.jpg Embed Artwork Re-Embed Artwork PDF Adder View Cached Music Copy Tag Info Tracks to Tracks A Space Between Download FAQ and Video Windows Solutions? Bill Nelson’s Artisanal Music Our next tracks: Doug: Roomful of Blues: Live at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel Kirk: Bill Nelson: All That I Remember If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

Doug and Kirk welcome back Andy Doe, digital music consultant, to discuss myths and superstitions around audio: cables, breaking in hardware, digital audio, and more. But first we discuss classical music playlists on streaming services. “Hooray, good for you, you have magical bat ears.” Andy Doe. Show notes: Andy Doe Proper Discord Classical music playlists: Here’s What’s Wrong with Classical Music on Streaming Services (Part Whatever) Audio myths & superstitions: Articles on Kirk’s website about hi-fi magazines writing about audio equipment How Hi-Fi Magazines Write about Cables, Part 7: An Audiophile Shelf IsoAcoustic speaker stands Mastered for iTunes Our next tracks: Kirk: Bach: Lute Works (original version for ten-string guitar), Stephan Schmidt Doug: Rolling Stones, Get Yer Ya-Yas Out If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Special Guest: Andy Doe.Support The Next Track

Have you ever wanted to set up your own home media server? Doug and Kirk discuss the pros and cons of doing this, and explain how to set up a Mac mini as a media server. Show notes: Discovering new music: Apple’s Mac mini OS X Server I wish there was an iTunes Server WD My Passport 4 TB portable hard drive Carbon Copy Cloner Change Screen Resolution on Headless OS X Server Sonos Plex The Merchant of Venice, by the Royal Shakespeare Company Apple improves iCloud Music Library matching, ditches copy-protected matched files for Apple Music users VNC Viewer The best way to watch media on the new Apple TV: iTunes Home Sharing vs. Plex Our next tracks: Doug: Jeff Beck, Loud Hailer Kirk: Emerson String Quartet – Complete Recordings On Deutsche Grammophon If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

In the latest episode of The Next Track, Doug Adams and Kirk McElhearn welcome NPR and Rolling Stone music critic Will Hermes. We take a brief stroll down memory lane, then discuss music discovery: how does a music critic, overwhelmed with choice, discover new music. “For me to just become a nostalgia merchant; as a writer, and as a music fan, not interested.” Show notes: Discovering new music: Will Hermes’ website; his writing on Rolling Stone; his reviews on WNYC; All Things Considered Love Goes to Buildings on Fire, by Will Hermes NPR Music Uncut Magazine The Wire Pitchfork Rate Your Music Other People Listen to all ten albums from Brian Eno’s Obscure Records label Day of the Dead Chimes Of Freedom: The Songs Of Bob Dylan Rock Family Trees Our next tracks: Kirk: Steve Reich, Music for 18 Musicians Doug: Johnny Thunders, So Alone If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Special Guest: Will Hermes.Support The Next Track

In the latest episode of The Next Track, Doug Adams and Kirk McElhearn discuss spoken word recordings. How to get them, how to manage them, and how to listen to them. And we discuss how the history of recording started with recordings of spoken word content. “Like a Victorian call center.” Show notes: Spoken word and audiobook recordings: Key dates in the history of audiobooks Walt Whitman reading four lines of America James Joyce reading from Ulysses and Finnegans Wake JRR Tolkien reads from The Lord of the Rings Audible.com, Audible UK, free trial with two free audiobooks Librivox: free, public domain audiobooks Join Together, Mac app that splices multiple audio files into one Ripping and Playing Audiobooks Our next tracks: Doug: Fleetwood Mac, The Boston Box Kirk: Arkangel Shakespeare, and King Lear on the iTunes Store If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track

In the latest episode of The Next Track, Doug Adams and Kirk McElhearn analyze the rumor that Apple is planning to remove the headphone jack from the iPhone, and then discuss how people organize music by genre. “No matter where we steer this thing, we always end up driving down inelegant boulevard.” Show notes: The headphone jack rumor: An iPhone without a headphone jack? No way! On the Recurring Rumor that Apple Is Getting Rid of the iPhone Headphone Jack What’s the Logic Behind Apple’s New Headphone Jack? Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter Headphones with lightning connectors: Philips Fidelo M2/27 Audeze EL-8 Titanium Organizing music by genre: ID3 version 1 genre list Gracenote’s genre list How the Over-Genrification of Music Is Bad for Listeners and Musicians Here’s How Messed Up Apple Music Metadata Is (List of iTunes Store genres in a comment to this article) YouTube Users Are Reinventing The Way We Classify Music – vocativ Our next tracks: Doug: Where There’s A Will There’s A Way: The ABC-Dunhill Recordings By Bobby Whitlock Kirk: Bach, Goldberg Variations (1981), on Glenn Gould: The Complete Columbia Album Collection box set If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and please rate the podcast.Support The Next Track